The Pallilog
Amid more cancellations, there is hope for baseball
May 1, 2020, 7:56 am
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So, the general target for this column is 800 words in length. 788 words to go! And so begins the month of May. 777 words to go!
Two of the great events of the baseball summer were inevitably canceled this week. The National Baseball Hall of Fame's July induction ceremony for the class of 2020 will be rolled into the Class of 2021. Much worse, the Little League World Series scheduled for August, wiped out. Given the times, any ray of optimism on a number of fronts is a good thing so long as it's not laughably pie in the sky optimistic. There was some glimmer this week about the baseball season beginning by the end of June. USA Today's outstanding baseball writer/reporter Bob Nightengale broke the story that the emerging possibility would have a start date no later than July 2, with the 30 MLB teams broken into three 10 team divisions with all clubs using their home ballparks. The Astros would play in the West with the Rangers, Dodgers, Angels, Giants, Athletics, Padres, Mariners, Diamondbacks, and Rockies. Those would be the only nine opponents the Astros would face in a regular season that would run 100+ games from start to a late October finish ahead of whatever postseason plan including neutral sites was settled upon for November and perhaps even early December. Sign us up!
Justin Verlander said Thursday he's recovering very well from his dual injuries (groin surgery and lat). Reminder that while they're absolutely lousy circumstances under which to glean a silver lining, a delayed start to the season means the Astros will have Verlander ready to go when (I refuse to consider if) it gets here. An on time start, and Verlander probably misses the first two months plus.
If you missed it early this week, the Astros were ousted in the quarterfinals of MLB.com's all-time franchise best simulation tournament. The Yankees beat the Astros in seven games. The Astros blew Game 7 after holding a 6-1 lead in the sixth inning. Billy Wagner gave up a tying homer to Mickey Mantle in the bottom of the ninth, then in the 12th Yogi Berra took Brad Lidge deep to win the series. I just typed a paragraph with details of a computer-played baseball game. I now pause to sob quietly for a few seconds.
A Big Deal
Congrats to agent-less 25 year old Texans' left tackle Laremy Tunsil for smoking Bill O'Brien in their contract negotiations. Three years 66 million dollars is absurd. O'Brien continues to rack up "you have to be kidding me" GM decisions. Tunsil is a very good player. He is not the second coming of Anthony Munoz. For Tunsil to get four million more per year than the prior richest offensive tackle deal? Another way of framing Tunsil's 22 mil per season: that's a million dollars for each penalty he committed last season, plus a two million dollar bonus.
As much as one can reasonably judge a draft at the time of that draft, Bill O'Brien did fine with the Texans' top two choices. The loss of D.J. Reader left a big hole in the defensive line interior. Second round pick Ross Blacklock out of Elkins High School and TCU just needs to validate his selection. It's also not inconceivable that J.J. Watt gets cut after the 2020 season and Blacklock kicks out to defensive end. And before anyone goes screaming "Heretic!" at the suggestion of Watt being on the spot this year, he's missed at least half the regular season three of the last four seasons and is 31 years old. Watt's 15 and a half million dollar salary for the coming season is safe, but another major injury before he turns 32 while scheduled to make 17 and a half million in 2021?
Third round choice linebacker Jonathan Greenard gets mixed reviews, but the Texans needed another edge rusher possibility and I'm good with taking a guy named first team All-Southeastern Conference.
The Dallas Cowboys don't retire numbers, so their issuing number 88 to first round pick CeeDee Lamb is noteworthy. The wide receiver out of Oklahoma takes his spot in a Cowboys' number 88 lineage that includes Drew Pearson, Michael Irvin, and Dez Bryant. The Cowboys may now have three different receivers (Lamb, Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup) who a majority of NFL teams might take over any Texans' receiver. It's not that the Texans' corps stinks.
Buzzer Beaters
1. NBC is airing a mythical Kentucky Derby Saturday with the field comprised of the 13 Triple Crown winners. Secretariat obviously should win. Citation to place. Or Lucky Dan. Kudos if you get the reference. Affirmed to show. 2. Mint julep may be the most disgusting cocktail I've ever sipped. 3. Best "May" athletes: Bronze-Lee May Silver-Don Maynard Gold-Willie Mays
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The Houston Texans head to Green Bay this weekend to play in one of the most highly anticipated matchups of the season.
On offense, the Texans will look to maintain the boost Joe Mixon and Dameon Pierce provided to the running game last week against the Patriots.
Despite Houston's success with the ground game against the Pats, there are some concerns. Most of the production came from two explosive runs. They ranked in the Bottom 5 in success rate (26.9%) and Top 10 in stuff rate (23.1%) amongst all teams in Week 6.
Despite the volume against New England, Houston's run game on Sunday:
Ranked Bottom 5 in success rate (26.9%) and Top 10 in stuff rate (23.1%) amongst all teams in Week 6.
Lots of inefficient runs with huge gains sprinkled in-between. Is that sustainable? #HTownMade
— John Crumpler (@JohnHCrumpler) October 15, 2024
Air it out
The passing game once again will go through Tank Dell and Stefon Diggs with Nico Collins sidelined. Dell received a large portion of the downfield work that Collins had been doing.
Tank posted the highest route win rate and average separation score for Houston in Week 6, per Jacob Gibbs, and Fantasy Points Data.
In what should be a high scoring game, expect Dell to be Stroud's main target downfield.
What about the defense?
The Texans defense is 30th in EPA against play action, so don't be surprised if that's how the Packers will try to get some big plays down field.
D'Angelo Ross stepped in at corner with Kamari Lassiter injured last week. He lined up at the left corner spot, where Packers receiver Christian Watson will likely run the majority of his routes this week.
With Derek Stingley lining up outside on the right, he'll be facing Romeo Doubs a majority of the time. We expect Doubs will have a quiet day and the Packers will target Watson against Ross, and Jayden Daniels in the slot versus Jalen Pitre.
Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans has been dialing up the blitz more and more. And that looks like a good idea once again this week, as Love is 28th in QBR when blitzed this season.
What does Vegas think?
The Packers are favored by 2.5 points, with the total set at 47.5 points.
There are so many more angles to cover in this exciting matchup. Don't miss the video above as we break it all down! And head to the SportsMap Texans YouTube channel right after the game as we react live!